#749 of 1001 · August 19, 2022

May you draw on the power of Hansel and Gretel to push your greatest obstacles into the fire and let them burn away to ash. For today’s adaptation, I have Joan Walsh Anglund’s Nibble Nibble Mousekin. Alternating between black and white and full color art, Anglund puts a distinctive stamp on the tale. The two young children here are rendered as doll-like cherubs with dot eyes and blank faces. They meet their diametric opposite in the two antagonists—their stepmother and the witch, both charismatic figures with bony frames, pointy noses, and wicked, smirking expressions. A note for folklore enthusiasts: The unusual title here draws from a specific passage in the Brothers Grimm tale. As Hansel and Gretel feast on the house of sweets, they hear a voice from within call out, “knuper, knuper, kneischen,/wer knupert an meinem Häuschen?” This rhyme translates into English literally as, “Nibble, nibble, munch,/Who is nibbling at my house?” However, most retellings today render the phrase: “Nibble, nibble, like a mouse,/Who is nibbling at my house?” This idiomatic and irresistibly rhymed translation is the work of Lucy Crane, who published a volume of the Grimms’ tales illustrated by her brother, celebrated artist Walter Crane, in 1882. #forest #woods #house #witch #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks